Railroad-spike.



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EDWARD J. DITTMER, OF DURBIN, NORTH DAKOTA.

RAILROAD-SPIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 19, 1911.

Patented Mar. 26, 1912.

Serial No. 655,529.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. DITTMER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Durbin, in the county of Cass, State of North Dakota, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad- Spikes; and Ido hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railroad spikes and more especially to animproved safety Spike provided withI means to prevent its accidentalwithdrawal or loosening when secured in position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a spike with a slotarranged diagonally through its shank portion and having a retaining pintherethrough adapted to permit the spike to be driven but to preventloosening thereof.

With these and other objects in view the invention consists of certainother combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinafter morefully described and claimed, it being a still further object of theinvention to provide a device which will not be likely to get out ofworking order.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a sectional view of a portion of a railroadtie with a rail mounted thereon and showing my improved spike inposition after having been driven into the tie. Fig. 2 is a sectionalview of the spike driven into a section of a tie and partly withdrawn toshow the action of the retaining pin. Fig. 3 is a rear edge View of thespike.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown an ordinary railroadspike having a shank portion 10 and a retaining head 11 adapted toengage the flanged portion of a rail 12 which is mounted upon a suitabletie 13 int-o which the shank portion of the spike is driven. The lowerend of the shank portion is pointed in the usual manner as shown at 14in the form of an ordinary spike but the shank portion is provided witha diagonally arranged or inclined opening or slot 15 therethroughleading from the back to the front portion of the spike below the head11.

A retaining pin 16 of rectangular cross section is pivotally mountedintermediate its ends upon a pivot pin 17 which extends through theopposite sides of the spike and passes transversely through the slot,the lower end 18 of the pin bein adapted to lie flush with the frontface o the spike and thereby permit the spike to be driven while theopposite end 19 terminates in an upwardly extending protruding pointprojecting from the rear face of the spike at its shank portion.

From an inspection of the drawings it will be seen that the pin 16 ispermitted a slight pivotal movement upon the pin 17 vertically withinthe slot and in Fig. 1 of the drawings it will be seen that the spikecan be readily driven but when any attempt is made to loosen t-he spike,incident to jars or strain thereon, the end portion 19 will be projectedinto the wood or material of the tie and thereby prevent the same frombeing drawn out or becoming loose.

I claim In a railroad spike, the combination with the shank and headportion thereof, said shank portion having a diagonal slot therethroughbelow the head; of a pivot pin disposed transversely through the spikeand slot and a retaining pin of rectangular cross section pivotallymounted thereon for limited movement within the slot, the lower end ofthe retaining pins being flush with the forward face of the shank andupper end thereof projecting beyond the back face of the spike.

In testimony whereof, I ailix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

EDIVARD J. DITTMER.

Witnesses:

R. C. KITTEL, W. F. KITTEL.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

